Off to Tullahoma, Tennessee (more pictures added)

[Taigh Ramey]

I thought I would post some shots of our cross country trip to the Beechcraft birthday party going on in Tullahoma this weekend.

I was delivering an ex RCAF 3NM to its new owner who will be picking it up at the gathering.

My friend Terry Tarditi, who owns the P-51D Comfortably Numb, came by the shop and I asked him if he wanted to come along and he did. Since he didn't have any multi time I put him in the left seat so he could log some dual toward his ME license on the way.





We saw this amazing sight near Canyon Lands Utah. I never did figure out where they came up with the name...



Then we flew near a large balloon of some kind in Utah. It was a helium balloon with a package hanging below. It looked too large for a weather balloon. Maybe it was Steve Fossett?



Sun setting behind us with the twin tails of the Beech



After 9.5 hours flying we spent the night in the small town of Pocahontas, Arkansas. We were met by a large group of folks at the A&P School there who were working late. This is one of the helicopters there:



A local reporter came out to do a story about us. We were famous in Pocahontas. The editor took our picture by the Beech. Kimberly is Mary Dilda's crew chief on her T-6.



After 11 hours of flying she made it to Tullahoma. She burned less than 3 quarts each side and ran like a Swiss watch. We had some nice tail winds on the last leg and were scooting across the ground at 196 knots.





I will post more shots of the other aircraft at the Beech party today if you all are interested. We were the first Beech 18 to arrive and there were 6 more before I left last night. There were also a bunch of Staggerwings and lots of other Beech's too.

Thanks,

Taigh

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Fri Oct 12, 2007 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[K5DH]

Great pictures, Taigh! And that's one fine-looking Model 18 as well. Please do post more pics from the event. I like Twin Beeches and Staggerwings!

Cheers!

[Robbie Stuart]

Taigh, Is Dub Yarbrough still active with the museum up there? His late son Milt was a good buddy of mine. Your pics are great, thanks for sharing with us. You gotta love a good ole Twin Beech!
Robbie

[B17news]

nice pics, thanks for posting them!
B

[bipe215]

Tullahoma was the site of some great flyin/airshows in the late 70's and early 80's. Beautiful place, centrally located, lotsa room. Its a shame it wasn't allowed to grow. Could have rivaled Sun & Fun easily.
I always heard that the EAA and the Tullahoma bunch had a monetary disagreement that ended the fly-in.

Steve G

[krlang]

Cool,
I went to Beech Party 2000 during a trip to BNA for the IA class.
20+ Staggerwings there on Saturday, it was really cool.

[AIRIC]

Very cool. Looks like it was a nice flight.

Eric

[Toddb]

Any T-34 Mentors

[TimAPNY]

does this event happen every year? I hope next year to be close enough to drive over and check it out.

Looks like a fun time and a great flight.

Tim

[marine air]

Taigh, Very nice Beech you have. I got to see it today and didn't know what model it was. It looks mechanically quite nice and is only lacking the interior. I noticed you have already soundproofed the interior. I told my wife it was one of the better one's there as it really looked like you have gone through it. Hope to get back there this weekend.
That celestieal navigation dome would be a hoot to photograph sunsets etc.
T-34's , there were two on the field. Both yellow, one static in the Bonanza museum and the other was flying. Will be many more this weekend.
Robbie Stuart, There is a reconstructed "dogtrot cabin" that is part of the museum. There is a display in the north cabin and lots of photos of Chub Yarbrough. I believe he passed away in 2000. He flew Hellcats in the Navy in WW II. What caught my attention was there were some newspaper articles where he had a flyable F6F Hellcat around 1970. He traded it to someone somewhere for a Mcdonnell FH-1 BUNo# 80141 that had the FAA registration N4283A !!! Wonder what became of both aircraft.
Lastly, Mr. Parrish had a hugely successful EAA fly-in there in the 1970's. I believe the second and final year they had over 4,000 aircraft attended. WHen he quit having it , it wasn't because of money. MR Parrish owns 400 acres on the airport and has PLENTY of money.

[bipe215]

Marine,

My last trip to Tullahoma was 1980. I was in college and flew my Fly Baby there. I remember Bill Ross's P-38, Paul P's and John Baugh's P-51's. The EAA B-17 and DC-3. Also Smith and Beale's matching Bearcats and Sue's P-40. Lots of antiques and homebuilts. Word was that the EAA loaded the money in the DC-3 and left. That ended EAA's involvement.
Oh yeah, I remember Dick Rutan flying a Long EZ off the wing of an A-10 on final. Good times...

Steve G

[krlang]

does this event happen every year? I hope next year to be close enough to drive over and check it out.

Looks like a fun time and a great flight.

Tim

Hmmm,
While you are in the area you should go to the Jack Daniels and George Dickel distilleries.

[krlang]

does this event happen every year? I hope next year to be close enough to drive over and check it out.

Looks like a fun time and a great flight.

Tim

Hmmm,
While you are in the area you should go to the Jack Daniels and George Dickel distilleries.

[krlang]

does this event happen every year? I hope next year to be close enough to drive over and check it out.

Looks like a fun time and a great flight.

Tim

Hmmm,
While you are in the area you should go to the Jack Daniels and George Dickel distilleries.

[krlang]

SCOTT STOP THIS CRAZY THING!